The Chickadee 373 



pine. It is unable to penetrate sound wood, as I have seen it repeatedly try 

 to enlarge a small hole in a white pine nesting-box, but it could not start a 

 chip. Often the Chickadee gains an entrance through the hard outer coating of 

 a post or stump into the decaying interior by choosing, as a vantage point, a 

 hole made by some Woodpecker in search of a grub. The Chickadee works 

 industriously to deepen and enlarge this cavity, sometimes making a hole 

 nine or more inches deep; and the little bird is wise enough to carry the tell- 

 tale chips away and scatter them far and wide — something the Woodpeckers 

 are less careful about. 



Sometimes the hole is excavated in the broken top of a leaning stump 

 or tree, and once I found one in the top of an erect white pine stump with no 

 shelter from the storm. I have found Chickadees' nests in small decaying 

 pitch-pine trees, where the hard knots formed by the stumps of little limbs 

 projected, like pegs, into the ca\dty from each side, extending nearly to the 

 center. The birds, on entering the nest some nine inches below the opening, 

 must have used these pegs as a ladder. No doubt they w^ould have removed 

 them had they been able. 



The nest is placed at the bottom of the hole, and made of such warm materi- 

 als as cottony vegetable fibers, hairs, wool, mosses, feathers and insect cocoons. 

 Every furry denizen of the woods, and some domestic animals, may sometimes 

 contribute hair or fur to the Chickadee's nest. One nest was made entirely 

 of cotton, which had been placed in a nesting-box for the use of the birds. 



The eggs vary somewhat in color, but are commonly white, spotted with 



reddish brown or finely marked with a paler shade. Both birds take turns in 



sitting, and the eggs hatch in about eleven days, the last one 



Eggs laid requiring sometimes twelve or thirteen days. The young 



leave the nest in about two weeks from the date of hatching. 



Sometimes tw^o broods are reared in a season. 



The Chickadee has named himself. He repeats the name often with several 

 additional dee- dees or chee-dees. Toward spring, he sometimes attempts to 

 "pour out his soul in song," but a few jingUng notes represent 

 Notes his finest efforts. The long, pensive, musical phcebe, which 



he utters most at that season, given with the first note accented 

 and the last falling, is regarded by many writers, as his song, but it is uttered 

 by both sexes. The young in the nest give a faint and wheezing imitation of 

 the chicadee, and, when they cry all together, their combined voices suggest 

 the hissing of some huge snake. 



It's impossible to do more than touch upon the habits of this delightful 

 bird in a mere leaflet like this. Much has been written of its habits, but 



the half has never been told. An adequate history of its bright 

 Habits and , . . ,. , , • , , 



Characteristics ^ cunnmg ways, its many expedients and devaces, would 



fill a book. Its chief apparent characteristics, from a human 

 point of view, are courage, optimism, industry, activity, helpfulness and joy 



